In the Japanese folk calendar, June 1 is generally a rather important moment. The name varies from region to region, such as Mangoku Tsuitachi in southern Kyushu, Yakimochi Sekku in the Chugoku region, and Muke no Tsuitachi or Kinunugi Tsuitachi in eastern Japan, but it can be almost assumed that it was a day deeply related to agricultural labor. Today is mainly considered to be the day of the festival of the water god, which is also called Kawamatsuri in the western region and Tenno oroshi in the eastern region. Still, it seems that the purpose of this festival was not necessarily to protect irrigation water from the gods but also to escape from diseases and other calamities by taking advantage of physical infirmity. Considering the above, various food events that are not merely for rest remain separate from the Gion beliefs*, and it is difficult to interpret them further. Particularly noteworthy among them is that a rice cake called hagatame (teeth-hardening rice cake) is made at the beginning of the New Year in the Imperial Court and at the New Year in some rural villages, but it is also made at a ceremony on June 1 in some regions. From Ou to Echigo and Sado, it is the custom to bring back half of the rice cake offered to the water god when drawing water called wakamizu early in the morning on New Year's Day and keep it until June 1. It is also called ice rice cake, and kakimochi or arare** are made from the rice cake pounded in winter, cut, and taken out again to eat on this day. However, in the Tohoku region, the rice cake actually freezes, so even if you chew and eat it while it is white and crumbly, it doesn't particularly train your teeth. It is tied with straw and hung carefully, and although it doesn't taste good, it is eaten as a ritual on this day. In some regions, the same event is held on the day when rice paddies start plowing in the mid-spring, but the rice cake is not called hagatame. Usually, on the milestone day of June 1, this is distributed to people working in the house, who not only eat some of it but also chew it up and smear it on their hands, feet, and neck. It is said that they don't suffer from horseflies and mosquitoes. The reason why rice cakes were thought to have such power is the idea of chikara-mochi, which symbolizes strength. It was thought that the origin of its function was in the fact that it was a rice cake made for the New Year and an offering to the god of water, who was most revered in June. Although the word "hagatame" is an old word used in the imperial family, the wish was not only for the safety of the teeth. Therefore, there was another name for this at first, and later, this interesting name was given when people started to chew hard rice cake that does not freeze. Thus, the two hagatame rice cakes, one in the capital and the other in the countryside did not necessarily have different origins or conflated meanings. In the villages in the mountains of Minami Aizu, the rice cake eaten on June 1 was called chikara-mochi. Then, they soaked it in wakamizu on New Year's Day, dried it, and ate it on this day (Tabi to Densetsu Vol.11, No.11). There are other examples of the same. In other words, this was an extension of the New Year's events, and the time to apply it was simply moved to the time when power was especially needed.

irrigation（名）灌漑

calamity（名）災難、厄災

infirmity（名）弱さ、虚弱

noteworthy（形）注目に値する

draw（動）汲む

crumbly（形）脆い

paddy（名）水田

milestone（名）節目

smear（動）塗りつける

horsefly（名）アブ

revere（動）崇める

soak（動）浸す

*Gion beliefs: A Shinto cult. Originally it revolved solely around Gozu Tenno, but during the Separation of Shinto and Buddhism of the Meiji era the government mandated it shift to revolving around Susanoo. The main shrines are Yasaka Shrine in Kyoto, Hiromine Shrine in Hyogo Prefecture, and Tsushima Shrine in Aichi Prefecture. The original form of the Gion faith was an attempt to prevent epidemics against the background of the Goryo faith established in the Heian period.

**kakimochi and arare: Kakimochi is a rice cracker made by breaking and drying small pieces of rice cakes and roasting them, and is also called okaki. Arare is made in the same way as kakimochi, but it is more finely grained.